Honor Roll

Let it be known that Akiko has made the "'A' Honor Roll" in her class for winter term.

So, yeah, it's only kindergarten. I mean, I remember I had straight A's in kindergarten, too. But still, we're really proud of her and all her hard work.

So, being on the honor roll means that she's excelling in both reading and math. Some kids got certificates for just reading or just math. Some got certificates for "special recognition," whatever that is. Some got certificates for perfect attendance.

Everyone is different. No two people are not on fire.

Tee hee. That last paragraph I wrote reminded me of good ol' Strongbad.

Anyway, Akiko was the only one in her class to get honor roll.

Remember a few weeks ago she was having a hard time at school? Well, it was one of those times that steam needed to be let off because at the time it was so hard to watch Akiko have such a hard time and not want to go to school.

So, what had happened was her teacher was out of town for a while and was sick the first day she was supposed to be back. That day, the kids had a bad substitute. Then, a couple days later, I left to go to Utah for a week and a half and left her home with her daddy. She missed her brothers and me terribly.

So, I think it was just that her routine was thrown off. Things are great now and she looks forward to school every morning.

Spirit Week - Crazy Hair/Hat Day

And to end, I got my new phone this morning! Number's the same.

Cellphone's Dead

It's both exciting and frustrating at the same time.

Exciting because I've often found myself wishing I had Joseph's Droid with me on multiple occasions for various reasons and now I can get one. Frustrating because I'm not eligible for a discounted upgrade for four more months and being without a phone is kinda freaky.

You see, my phone was the free phone that came with the package when we purchased Joseph's phone, so it was nothing fancy at all. It did the basics: calling, texting, crappy camera, etc. However, when I've been out and about, and, well, any time I've gone into San Francisco, I've often found myself in situations thinking, "Ugh! I should've traded phones with Joseph today." It got to the point where I pretty much told Joseph that me having a smartphone was no longer an option, it was a necessity.

I could blame the death of the phone on the baby. It was fine this morning, then, unbeknown to me, Asher had snatched it, and after that it got really wonky. However, for a few months, even before Asher was old enough to grasp things, it would have days where it would totally wig out, then go back to normal after resetting it. So, I've got a feeling that this was going to happen anyway. Asher just expedited the process.

So, this is really just a public service announcement. Thanks for listening to me complain about my dead phone. If you need to get a hold of me in the next few days, Facebook or email me, or call Joseph's phone. I've got some cellphone shopping to do!

This picture makes me giggle because I totally used to have this phone when I was 18!

I Will Survive

Hey everybody,

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been too exhausted to really post anything lately. I feel like I haven't really recovered from the Utah trip yet. And Asher still doesn't sleep through the night, though we are sleeping better now that he's not teething anymore... for now.

So, besides being sleep deprived, I just have what seems like a million projects going on. I finally finished the Christmas cottages, that you can read about here at the bottom of the post, however, right before I finished them, I was at the craft store when Christmas was on clearance and scored two more cottages for $1.50 each. Yep, 50 cents cheaper than the thrift store! Sweet!

It's a school and a church. I've got the school nearly done and I've let Akiko paint the church. I'll get pictures of her finished church before I clean it up. Akiko's doing such a great job with it. You can see she had already started it by the time I got the camera out. And if you're wondering about that beauty/donut shop...

It took me forever to finally finish this. There are, like, a gazillion little details. When I was done with it, I got that feeling like, "Great! Now what do I do with all this extra time?"

Never fear! Kristen to the rescue!

My dear, beautiful little sister, Kristen, is getting married this spring. So, even though she and the wedding are going to be in Utah, I'm doing everything I can to help her from California, since she's got a ton on her plate already. I helped her pick out cardstock and design her invitations and brought it all home with me. I did everything that I could from here and sent them back to her to finish them. (Shout out to Chelsie for the template!)

So, now all I have left to do is: alter the flower girl dresses so that they're not all white, make a ring-bearer pillow (because we didn't like anything we saw in the store, besides the fact that they want to charge you way too much for something so simple), and make the flower girl baskets (for the same reason we chose not to purchase the pillow). That way I can also match everything and make them into something that we like... well, that I like and I hope Kristen likes it, too.

Besides all the wedding stuff, I've got a few girlfriends that are having babies, so I've been working on gifts for them. I'm not going to go into detail here, but crocheting and knitting is something I can do while I watch tv/the kids playing video games. They're my veg-out projects.

Then, of course, there are all the little house projects, which are getting knocked off the list one by one. You know, the things that sit and fester for ages till you can't stand it anymore; burned out lights, hanging a coat rack that the kids can reach and hang their own jackets on... things like that.

Then there's the new calling at church. I got released as a Primary teacher and called as a counselor. It's more demanding than any other calling that I've ever had... well, except that time they called me to be a pianist in Relief Society. That was truly the hardest calling I've ever encountered. I'm not a pianist. I mean, I can play the piano and read music, but not very well at all. However, I am a little better at playing and sight reading than I used to be, but I was so relieved when I got released from that calling. Now that I've gone off on a tangent, I'll get back to the post.

There is always a learning curve with any new calling, and this one was bigger than I expected. Now that we're a couple months into it, I think we're getting the hang of it and things are running a bit more smoothly. I'm in charge of the Nursery and Sunbeams, which have 23 (27 by the end of next month) and 14 children in them, respectively.

So, yeah, all that on top of the daily grind. So, sorry it's been a couple weeks and it's already mid-March. The kids are doing great. Joseph's busy with his job, but he's great, too.

To end, I'd like to mention that my family and friends in Japan and Maui are all safe. Please keep them in your prayers as things will be hard for them for a while. If you'd like to help out, you can write "Japan Relief" in the Humanitarian Aid section of a tithing slip.

Thanks!